Seasons Change

When we came back to the ranch after the labor day weekend, so many things felt different. Everyone else who lived at the upper end of the ranch (Squaw) is now gone, so its just Brian and I. It is freezing at night, the garden is over, and just yesterday it was cloudy all day, then rained in the evening and all through the night. Today is the first day in a long time we are dealing with mud instead of dust.

The thoughtful part of me has been thinking about deserts, and how so much of the time there appears to be little or no life. Although it has its own beauty, sometimes you have to look for it, or at least be able to appreciate something different than what feels like normal.

Much of that can parallel how we feel in our own life when we are in a "desert". Things seems so deserted and bare, and desperate for life giving water. But what I'm reminded of is that even in the desert there is beauty; and even when things seem so desolate, there is seed under the surface that only thrives in the changing seasons that are unique in a place like this.

This afternoon we rode the quad around one of the meadows to close some gates because the

guys brought the first 400 steers down out of the mountain alltoment. I collected this "fall" bouquet while we were out. The meadows are irrigated, so that explains the cattails, but the bright maroon/rust colored flowers are already pretty dry, and were growing in amongst thick grass that looked a lot like wheat.....wish I would have had my camera out there with me. It was really beautiful.